Changes to Steam refund policy for pre-launch play time

[John Elden Ring]

Eight years ago, Valve began offering no-questions-asked refunds for any game you buy on Steam — as long as you asked for that refund within 14 days of purchase and hadn’t played more than two hours of a game.

But when Valve started letting you play games ahead of their release dates with its “Early Access” and “Advanced Access” programs, it introduced a loophole: people could play for many, many hours ahead of launch and still request a refund after.

Today, Valve’s closing the loophole: Your Advanced Access and Early Access playtime now counts against the two-hour refund limit.

REFUNDS ON TITLES PURCHASED PRIOR TO RELEASE DATE
When you purchase a title on Steam prior to the release date, the two-hour playtime limit for refunds will apply (except for beta testing), but the 14-day period for refunds will not start until the release date. For example, if you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any playtime will count against the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title which is not playable prior to the release date, you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title, and the standard 14-day/two-hour refund period will apply starting on the game’s release date.

 

[BloodMod]

Thread title edited, because it sounded a bit different from what the policy now says.

 

[Yurinka]

Nice

 

[Cool hand luke]

Didn't know they let you do that. Now the high CCUs for early access titles makes a lot of sense. And they must've been seeing a huge amount of refunds to even consider closing this loophole after 8 years.

Will be interesting to see how much the stats drop.

 

[xollowsob]

How about just going back to demos?
Oh, that's right, the industry won't because playable demos decrease purchases of the final game.

This will hurt the studios more than help them. A lot of early access enjoyers give feedback to Devs to help them polish their game. They are free beta testers.

 

[Orangee]

How about just going back to demos?
Oh, that's right, the industry won't because playable demos decrease purchases of the final game.

This will hurt the studios more than help them. A lot of early access enjoyers give feedback to Devs to help them polish their game. They are free beta testers.

Why did you suggest sonething and then replied to yourself in the same message?

 

[Yuniac]

How about just going back to demos?
Oh, that's right, the industry won't because playable demos decrease purchases of the final game.

This will hurt the studios more than help them. A lot of early access enjoyers give feedback to Devs to help them polish their game. They are free beta testers.

Lies of P had a demo, it was fantastic and undoubtedly helped the game sell more copies than it would have without one.

Demos still exist, but I guess some studios are afraid of showing a demo that would turn off players.

 

[Yuniac]

Fair change.

 

[xollowsob]

Lies of P had a demo, it was fantastic and undoubtedly helped the game sell more copies than it would have without one.

Demos still exist, but I guess some studios are afraid of showing a demo that would turn off players.

Back in the 360 gen, when demos began to disappear,, EA or Acti (I forget which) released stats showing the correlation between demos, sneak peaks and bullshots in relation to purchases and demos had the lowest ratio.

 

[Yuniac]

Back in the 360 gen, when demos began to disappear,, EA or Acti (I forget which) released stats showing the correlation between demos, sneak peaks and bullshots in relation to purchases and demos had the lowest ratio.

Yeah sure, but now it's different times we are in. I can only speak for myself, a demo is just a dose of truth, about how the game is going to be (unless they straight up used a fake demo or hid stuff, at which point the game is doomed either way). So it would either make me cement my decision about buying it (more sales) or not (less sales) but at least it's the honest truth about the game from its demo. If your game is good, you have nothing to fear by sharing a demo. Only garbage games are afraid of demos because they want people buying them due to hype and not the actual game itself.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Didn't know they let you do that. Now the high CCUs for early access titles makes a lot of sense. And they must've been seeing a huge amount of refunds to even consider closing this loophole after 8 years.

Will be interesting to see how much the stats drop.

When Starfield came out, many people were planning to play for free during the 5 days early access and ask for a refund. They were talking about it openly, it was a known trick.

 

[xollowsob]

Yeah sure, but now it's different times we are in. I can only speak for myself, a demo is just a dose of truth, about how the game is going to be (unless they straight up used a fake demo or hid stuff, at which point the game is doomed either way). So it would either make me cement my decision about buying it (more sales) or not (less sales) but at least it's the honest truth about the game from its demo. If your game is good, you have nothing to fear by sharing a demo. Only garbage games are afraid of demos because they want people buying them due to hype and not the actual game itself.

That's the problem though, most games are garbage that get repetitive and the demo shows the warts and all version of the game.
I'm the same as you in that demos make me want a game more. I'm more likely to purchase more games if I get to sample them first. Some aren't for me, as I have particular tastes, but those that do tickle my fancy become an instant purchase.

Unfortunately, the normies, with the attention span of gnats on speed, play a demo, get bored and move on. They need the flytrap paper and jangly keys to keep them spending

 

[xollowsob]

When Starfield came out, many people were planning to play for free during the 5 days early access and ask for a refund. They were talking about it openly, it was a known trick.

Starfield was 'free' on gamepass so why people did the refund trick is beyond me.
Though how many people would have refunded is Starfield had the replayability of Skyrim?

 

[Yuniac]

That's the problem though, most games are garbage that get repetitive and the demo shows the warts and all version of the game.
I'm the same as you in that demos make me want a game more. I'm more likely to purchase more games if I get to sample them first. Some aren't for me, as I have particular tastes, but those that do tickle my fancy become an instant purchase.

Unfortunately, the normies, with the attention span of gnats on speed, play a demo, get bored and move on. They need the flytrap paper and jangly keys to keep them spending

I see what you mean now.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Starfield was 'free' on gamepass so why people did the refund trick is beyond me.
Though how many people would have refunded is Starfield had the replayability of Skyrim?

You could play for 5 days and then continue on Gamepass.

You had to buy a package with the DLC to get Early Access on GP. On Steam it was free this way.

 

[Yuniac]

In fact, I didn't even know about this till they said they are removing it